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Power struggle in Quartzsite spills into court, Internet

Legal filings and crude website mockery

A power struggle at Quartzsite Town Hall has now moved into the courts, with allegations that the municipal attorney is criminally prosecuting political enemies while smearing them on the Internet with spoof websites.
In recent weeks, two defense lawyers have filed motions in Quartzsite Magistrate Court accusing Martin Brannan, the town's lawyer, of conflicts and unethical conduct.
At the same time, La Paz County Attorney Sam Vederman has asked the FBI to investigate "potential systemic corruption" involving municipal leaders. In a Jan. 3 letter obtained by The Arizona Republic via a public-records request, Vederman said he believes residents of the town are being "targeted for arrest and prosecution simply because they are in political opposition" to town officials.

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An FBI spokesman declined to comment.
The legal contretemps involve opposing factions locked in a years-long struggle for control of a desert community that has a full-time population of about 3,500 and an estimated 2 million visitors annually.
The western Arizona town, which has been through a series of recall elections and courtroom battles over the past few years, made national news last year when a YouTube video showed an activist being dragged away in handcuffs after trying to discuss freedom of speech at a public meeting.
More than a half-dozen critics of the ruling group have been arrested -- many of them repeatedly -- in what dissidents say is a campaign of harassment. They were supported last year by most of the town's police officers, who signed a letter accusing Chief Jeff Gilbert of using his authority for political retaliation. Eight of those officers were fired and have sued the town in a pending federal court case.
Many of the criminal cases against dissidents arose from Town Council sessions at which they were accused of disorderly conduct, failing to obey police and malfeasance.
Three examples from public records:
In August, then-Mayor Ed Foster was arrested on orders of the police chief on suspicion of criminal malfeasance because he allegedly failed to adjourn a meeting after the majority of Town Council members walked out in protest. In his letter to the FBI, Vederman contends that charge was "politically motivated."
Jennifer "Jade" Jones, a local news publisher and outspoken critic of Quartzsite leadership, has been arrested at least five times in the past two years. In one case, she was hauled from a council meeting in handcuffs at the police chief's direction after speaking with the mayor's approval -- an arrest that the attorney general said violated Arizona's Open-Meetings Law. All the charges were subsequently dismissed, according to municipal court records.
Another dissident was arrested in April 2010 and accused of disrupting a meeting because he spoke disparagingly of the police chief, according to a Court of Appeals panel that threw out the conviction for lack of evidence.
After many of the charges against town critics were dismissed by prosecutors, the police chief sent an e-mail to the La Paz County attorney asking that he recuse himself due to bias. In a response, Vederman denied the request and wrote, "If you want to arrest people ... when there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction, that is your decision. However, I do not approve of it."
Gilbert told The Republic that accusations of selective or retaliatory enforcement are "absolutely false." He accused the former mayor, the publisher and their associates of being provocateurs who violate laws.
"These are all very legitimate criminal cases," he said. "The town has been under a constant barrage of attacks by a lot of propaganda."
Brannan and town officials other than Gilbert declined to comment.
Michael Frame, a lawyer who represents Foster, recently submitted three motions calling for Brannan to be removed as prosecutor due to alleged conflicts.
Frame noted that Brannan is the subject of an ethics complaint filed by Foster with the Arizona Bar. (The Bar is reviewing three complaints against Brannan, according to a spokesman who said the details are not public.)
Quartzsite's legal infighting is magnified by personal attacks and spoofs on the Internet, including crude sexual allegations against town critics. Frame's court filings allege that Brannan is responsible for Web postings at quartzsitebagger.wordpress.com and nedfraudster.info/wp that malign political foes with "false allegations and personal insults."
"Mr. Brannan is using his power as prosecutor to intimidate and bully the defendants for whom he has a personal bias against, in a fashion that is contrary to interests of justice, common decency and the law," Frame wrote.
The court motions were never ruled upon, Frame said, because Brannan withdrew as prosecutor and appointed special prosecutors to handle the cases before hearings could be held.
Frame's court complaints are supported in a motion filed last month by Matt Newman, another defense attorney who alleges that Quartzsite officials are "targeting certain individuals for prosecution due to their political views." Newman, an appointed public defender, asked to be relieved of all Quartzsite cases because the town's administration is so "tainted." He served as Quartzsite prosecutor for 12 years but was fired in April after refusing to press charges against a resident who, he asserted, was arrested for political activism.
Besides the policing conflicts, critics have assailed the town's administration for secrecy. Last year, the attorney general and state ombudsman found that Quartzsite leaders repeatedly violated Arizona laws governing public meetings and records.
Jones, the newspaper publisher, said state or federal investigators should step in to enforce the rule of law.
"It's really become an experiment in municipal government gone awry," she said. "Right now, these guys have a pass, and they're just laughing."
"We've got a wild West town here," former Mayor Foster added. "I'm concerned somebody's going to get pushed too hard and get a gun and come out shooting."